Thursday, August 25, 2005

Bush's Obscene Tirades Rattle White House Aides

By DOUG THOMPSON Aug 25, 2005, 06:19

While President George W. Bush travels around the country in a last-ditch effort to sell his Iraq war, White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him.

"I'm not meeting again with that goddamned bitch," Bush screamed at aides who suggested he meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the war-protesting mother whose son died in Iraq. "She can go to hell as far as I'm concerned!"

Bush, administration aides confide, frequently explodes into tirades over those who protest the war, calling them "motherfucking traitors." He reportedly was so upset over Veterans of Foreign Wars members who wore "bullshit protectors" over their ears during his speech to their annual convention that he told aides to "tell those VFW assholes that I'll never speak to them again is they can't keep their members under control."

White House insiders say Bush is growing increasingly bitter over mounting opposition to his war in Iraq. Polls show a vast majority of Americans now believe the war was a mistake and most doubt the President's honesty.

"Who gives a flying fuck what the polls say," he screamed at a recent strategy meeting. "I'm the President and I'll do whatever I goddamned please. They don't know shit."

Bush, whiles setting up for a photo op for signing the recent CAFTA bill, flipped an extended middle finger to reporters. Aides say the President often "flips the bird" to show his displeasure and tells aides who disagree with him to "go to hell" or to "go fuck yourself." His habit of giving people the finger goes back to his days as Texas governor, aides admit, and videos of him doing so before press conferences were widely circulated among TV stations during those days. A recent video showing him shooting the finger to reporters while walking also recently surfaced.

Bush's behavior, according to prominent Washington psychiatrist, Dr. Justin Frank, author of "Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President," is all too typical of an alcohol-abusing bully who is ruled by fear.

To see that fear emerges, Dr. Frank says, all one has to do is confront the President. "To actually directly confront him in a clear way, to bring him out, so you would really see the bully, and you would also see the fear," he says.

Dr. Frank, in his book, speculates that Bush, an alcoholic who brags that he gave up booze without help from groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, may be drinking again.

"Two questions that the press seems particularly determined to ignore have hung silently in the air since before Bush took office," Dr. Frank says. "Is he still drinking? And if not, is he impaired by all the years he did spend drinking? Both questions need to be addressed in any serious assessment of his psychological state."

Last year, Capitol Hill Blue learned the White House physician prescribed anti-depressant drugs for the President to control what aides called "violent mood swings." As Dr. Frank also notes: "In writing about Bush's halting appearance in a press conference just before the start of the Iraq War, Washington Post media critic Tom Shales speculated that 'the president may have been ever so slightly medicated.'"

Dr. Frank explains Bush's behavior as all-to-typical of an alcoholic who is still in denial:

"The pattern of blame and denial, which recovering alcoholics work so hard to break, seems to be ingrained in the alcoholic personality; it's rarely limited to his or her drinking," he says. "The habit of placing blame and denying responsibility is so prevalent in George W. Bush's personal history that it is apparently triggered by even the mildest threat."

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

There will, of course, always be those who close their eyes to inconvenient facts, but even for these unfortunate people a day will come when the evidence becomes to much of a burden for their conscience to ignore. For the good of us all let us hope their desire to act upon the truth outweighs their desire to defend those whom they believe are their allies.

July 1996: Congressional Republicans object to Clinton's proposed expansion of the intelligence agencies wiretap authority. Newt Gingrich tells Fox News Sunday: "When you have an agency that turns 900 personnel files over to people like Craig Livingstone... it's very hard to justify giving the agency more power."

February 15: Former US Senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman issue a report that warns "mass casualty terrorism directed against the US homeland is of serious and growing concern". Recommends the creation of a National Homeland Security Agency.

April 30: Clarke presents plan to fight al Qaeda and to start a National Homeland Security Agency. Gets floated around the office, but is more or less ignored.1

July 10: FBI agent sends headquarters a memo concerning some middle eastern students learning to fly who have no interest in taking off or landing.

July: Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet warns NSA Rice that a major attack on American soil is probably imminent.

August 6: George Tenet delivers to the vacationing Bush a memo entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.", saying al Qaeda is planning on hijacking planes and possibly attacking New York. No action is taken. The next day Bush tells the press pool "I've got a lot of national secuirty concerns that we're working on - Iraq, Macedonia, very worrisome right now."

Feeling the heat in August about an "imminent terrorist attack", acting FBI Director Thomas Pickard requests an additional $58 million in anti-terrorism funding from the Department of Justice.

September 5: Eight months after Rice had been briefed, and 11 months after Clinton suggested Bush create it, Clarke's plan finally reaches the principals comittee. Bush is back from his month-long August vacation. Cheney, Rice, Powell, and Rumsfeld decide to advise Bush to adopt Clarke's plan with a phased in approach. They wait several days before they put it on his desk.1

September 11: Using hijacked airliners, Saudi and Egyptian members of al Qaeda attack the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing thousands. Another hijacked airline crashes to earth in eastern Pennsylvania, apparently brought down as part of a battle between the hijackers and the passengers. Military moves to DefCon 3, all domestic flights are grounded.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

You are a RAVENCLAW!
As a Ravenclaw and as an NFP, you valueimagination, ideas and intelligence. You areprobably somewhat of an individualist and avoidconforming just for its own sake. You areinsightful and perceptive, and since you areempathetic and value harmony, you usually tryto avoid conflict. Of course, you may enjoyparticipating in heated debates, but only aslong as they remain on an intellectual leveland not a personal level. In general, you areopen-minded and curious, and set high standardsfor yourself.

Holy batshit, I think I just found an old friend, somebody who I knew several thousand years ago in Aberdeen, and on reading her blog, still feel like I totally know even today. Her blog is pretty damn funny (as it damned well ought to be, considering who writes it): Cupie Spew!

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

"The time has come that the American people know exactly what their representatives are doing here in Washington. Are they feeding at the public trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, getting wined and dined by special-interest groups? Or are they working hard to represent their constituents? The people, the American people, have a right to know. I say the best disinfectant is full disclosure.'"U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in 1995

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

This wonderful photo by Krystle got me thinking about a mythological point. The model's expression is a little sexy, but mostly it's mischievous. It makes me think about a whole new angle on the Eve/Pandora myths of the woman who unleashes trouble on the world: what if she totally knew what she was doing? Maybe Eve and Pandora can be thought of as tough, hell-raising chicks, rather than as symbols of the old male tendency to blame women for all evil.

Monday, January 31, 2005

What is it with crappy action films taking their titles from children's songs and nursery rhymes? While looking in video stores over the last year or so, I've noticed it's been done a lot. There was Gingerbread Man, and there was Reindeer Games... Oh yeah, I think there was one called Along Came A Spider.

I guess if you're making a run-of-the-mill, mainstream "gritty" action film and you can't think of a title, just take a couple key words from a nursery rhyme. I don't know if these have already been used, but expect to see movies titled:

Monday, January 24, 2005

The development discussion list for del.icio.us naturally brings up the topic of folksonomy regularly. While it's easy to find articles praising folksonomy and suggesting it may displace existing methods of identifying and locating information, it's not quite as easy to find skeptical, critical articles about folksonomy. I always like to see multiple viewpoints, so I sought out some skeptics. I've placed a number of interestring articles in del.icio.us with the tag "antifolksonomy."

Friday, January 14, 2005

I met my wife in the spring of 1996 on the Internet in an email discussion group for fans of the band Pink Floyd. I flew out to Toronto to meet her that summer, and she came out here to visit me twice before finally moving here.

The Western psychology of love was defined in the middle ages, through great, defiant love stories like that of Tristan and Isolde, or of Sir Lancelot and Guinevere. One of the great medieval poets, Girault de Borneilh, wrote in the 12th century:

so through the eyes love attains the heart:
for the eyes are the scouts of the heart,
and the eyes go reconnoitering
for what it would please the heart to possess.
and when they are in full accord
and firm, all three, in the one resolve,
at that time, perfect love is born
from what the eyes have made welcome to the heart.
not otherwise can love either be born or have commencement
than by this birth and commencement moved by inclination.

guiraut de borneilh (c. 1138-1200)

Today, in the age of the Internet, it's no longer always through the eyes that love is attained. Now love can start other ways rather than necessarily through sight.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

My 36th birthday is coming up next Thursday, January 20th. When I was a little kid birthdays were so exciting and fun. This photo is from 1977, my 8th birthday. My mom made the snoopy cut-out cake. We all had party hats, favors, and the whole deal. Now, birthdays are just another day. Sometimes I wish I could be a little kid again just for my birthday and for Christmas, so I could feel that happiness and excitement again. This year I didn't even bother asking for my birthday off from work. ...sigh...

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

"I keep having to remind people that religion in and of itself is morally neutral. Religion is like a knife. When you use a knife for cutting up bread to prepare sandwiches, a knife is good. If you use the same knife to stick into somebody's guts, a knife is bad. Religion in and of itself is not good or badit is what it makes you do..." Desmond Tutu

Thanks to Bina for posting that. I think that statement is absolutely brilliant in it's simple clarity.

Sunday, January 02, 2005

One of the wonderful little surprises which is associated with PKD is aneurysms. I always thought an aneurysm was the event: i.e., when a blood vessel near your brain bursts. But it turns out that an aneurysm is actually a thing: a blood vessel which is stretched thin and enlarged like a balloon. An aneurysm can burst, but an aneurysm is the strained blood vessel, not the act of bursting.

Anyway, aneurysms are associated with PKD. About 1 in 10 people with PKD has an aneurysm. Although I've had blackouts now and then ever since I was a kid, those were apparently associated with a heart condition called AVNRT which I had fixed last year with a cathetera ablation procedure. So the doctor feels pretty sure I'm in the clear as far as aneurysms go, but he still ordered an MRI on my head to be absolutely sure.

On Thursday, Dec. 30th at 6:30 a.m. I went to the hospital and had the MRI done. It was a little different from the MRIs I've had done on my torso and kidneys. This time, I was put in head-first, with protective headphones on. Instead of the gentle "whoosh" I've heard in past MRIs, this time the machine screeched like a modem for uninterrupted minutes at a time, then alternately paused to make big "chunk chunk" noises and clicks. The MRI took about 25 minutes, during which I just closed my eyes and did some meditation exercises. It must have worked because not only did I emerge feeling very nice, but it seemed like it only took 10 minutes rather than 25.

About Me

Although born in Melbourne, Florida, I've lived in Western Washington since I was three. My father always had a dark room, and when I was only about seven years old, he taught me how to develop black-and-white negative film and make prints. So from a very early age I knew and loved the smell of Dektol D-76, and learned the frustration of spooling 35mm film in a pitch-black room. My teenage and adolescent years were spent primarily on drawing rather than photography, but this developed my eye and my understanding of art, until I returned to my photography roots in the early 2000s.

I shoot fashion and beauty now, both in my humble studio as well as on-location. I absolutely live to become a full-time professional fashion and beauty photographer for magazines and advertising.